Bilateral disection of Fallopian tubes is a common surgical procedure to sterilize a female. This procedure involves severing and tying the Fallopian tubes. Intrauterine devices, as plugs and wires, are used to temporarily sterilize a female. These devices include plugs which are inserted into the canals of the Fallopian tubes to prevent ova from passing from the canals into the uterus. Smith, in 1849, described a method to treat sterility by passing whale bone splints into the canals. These devices do not insure that the ova cannot flow through the canals into the uterus. The devices can be dislodged and lost without the female being aware of it. There is no assurance that the devices are effective. Cimber, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,639 and No. 3,680,542, discloses plugs attached to the uterine wall to block the entrance of ova into the uterus from the Fallopian canals and the exit of sperm from the uterine cavity into the Fallopian canal. These plugs are designed to effect temporary sterilization in that they can be removed and do not permanently block the canals of the Fallopian tubes. Plug contraceptive devices are not entirely effective in that it is possible for ova to by-pass the plugs an enter the uterus.
Liquid tissue adhesives have been developed which polymerize when applied to moist living tissue. These adhesives have been used for various surgical procedures. When the tissue adhesives are used the cells adjacent the tissue are damaged and eventually replaced with a fibrous tissue. A liquid tissue adhesive has been injected into the uterine cavity with a catheter to occlude the canals of the Fallopian tubes. Studies have been conducted with silver nitrate, zince chloride and methyl cyanoacrylate to occlude the canals of the Fallopian tubes. These catheters are not designed to accommodate the different sizes, shapes and characteristics of uteri.
Various methods of female sterilization are reviewed by Hulka and Omran in New Concepts in Contraception, edited by Potts and Wood and published by University Park Press. The use of tissue adhesives for human sterilization is discussed in Human Sterilization, edited by Richart and Prager and published by Charles C. Thomas.